Men's Ice Hockey Defeats Robert Morris, 5-4

Jan 24, 2009

HAMDEN,
Conn.  The Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team
defeated Robert Morris, 5-4, in a non-conference match-up at the TD
Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. With the win, Quinnipiac
improves to 13-8-2 overall while Robert Morris drops to 4-12-4.

"We
lacked energy in the first period," Quinnipiac head coach Rand
Pecknold said. "Some of our guys aren't responding right now, and
we need them to do that. We played a great second period and we
were able to grind it out for the win."

Bryan
Leitch (Coquitlam, B.C.) passed out three assists while David
Marshall had a goal and two assists. Leitch becomes the first
player in NCAA Division I hockey this season to reach 40 points
while Marshall's three points give him 31 points on the year. The
linemates make Quinnipiac the first team in NCAA Division I men's
ice hockey this season to carry two players on their roster with 30
points.

Leitch,
a Hobey Baker Award candidate, passed several milestones on the
evening. With three assists in the Bobcats' win, Leitch became just
the fifth player in Quinnipiac men's ice hockey history to reach 50
goals and 100 assists for his career. He is also the seventh player
all-time with 150 points, which also stands as the second-highest
total since Quinnipiac joined the Division I ranks. He is one of
six Quinnipiac players all-time, and third at the Division I level,
to reach 100 assists.

Robert
Morris scored first at the 15:59 mark when Trevor Lewis fed Chris
Margott to the right of the Quinnipiac goal. Margott skated out to
the right and dropped a pass of to sophomore Nathan Longpre in
front of Quinnipiac goalie Dan Clarke (Belleville, Ont.). Longpre
flipped a backhanded shot on goal at Clarke that was stopped by the
freshman goalie, but trickled between his pads to give the
Colonials the early 1-0 lead.

Quinnipiac
had several opportunities early on, specifically when David
Marshall (Buffalo, Minn.) hit two pipes in the first frame.
Marshall's first shot came in the first 10 minutes of regulation,
while his second came with less than two minutes to play in the
first period.

The
Bobcats tied the game less than two minutes into the second period
when Jean-Marc Beaudoin (St. Paul, Alb.) passed to Brandon Wong
(Victoria, B.C.) who was streaking towards the Bobcat goal. Wong
was denied on a shot that was deflected over the Robert Morris
goal. After Wong collected the puck and skated out to the right of
the net, he spun and slipped the puck back between his legs to
freshman Yuri Bouharevich (Montreal, Que.). Bouharevich, who
started to the right of the goal, faked a shot before he slid past
Robert Morris goalie Brooks Ostergard and scored to tie the game,
1-1.

The
goal was Bouharevich's second of the year, while Wong and Beaudoin
pick up their 11th and eighth assists of the season,
respectively. The assist was also Wong's 99th career
point.

The
Bobcats took a 2-1 lead with 16:18 remaining in the period when Dan
Henningson (Edmonton, Alb.) handled the puck in the right face-off
circle before passing to Leitch behind the goal line. Leitch skated
to the opposite side of the neck where he saw Eric Lampe (Madison,
Wisc.) waiting in front of the Robert Morris goal. Lampe's
one-timer was his eighth goal of the season, while Leitch picked up
his 29th assist of the year and 98th of his
career. Henningson was credited with his fifth helper of the
season.

Robert
Morris answered at the 13:07 mark when Jake Obermeyer pushed the
puck past Clarke to knot the game at 2-2. Obermeyer's goal, his
first of the season, was assisted by Chris Kushneriuk and Kyle
Burton.

Lampe
scored his second goal of the game at the 8:18 mark to re-take the
lead, 3-2. The junior center was assisted by linemates Leitch and
Marshall. The assist was Leitch's 29th of the year while
Marshall extends his scoring streak to a Quinnipiac Division I
record 16 games.

Kushnierek
tied the game at the 16:05 mark on a power-play goal set up by
Denny Urban and Lewis. The Bobcats took the lead back 15 seconds
later at the 16:20 mark when Greg Holt (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) scored his
first goal of the season on David Marshall's second assist of the
game. Holt's goal was shorthanded.

Marshall
gave Quinnipiac a two-goal lead on a 5-on-3 power play with a
one-timer left face-off circle. The senior forward scored his
13th goal of the season on a pass from Henningson, who
picked up his second assist of the game as the Bobcats increased
their lead to 5-3.

Robert
Morris struck again with just over six minutes remaining in the
regulation. Urban picked up his second point of the night on his
second goal of the year. He was set up on the play by Margott and
Longpre.

The
Bobcats and Colonials square off on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the
TD Banknorth Sports Center in the final game of their two-game,
non-conference series.